Hair-drying hood



Oct. 2, 1951 I c. M. DUGAN HAIR-DRYING HOOD Filed April 15, 1950 n, 0 w D M e .m r e m a C V Y B ATTORNEY.

Patented Oct. 2, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,569,600 HAIR-DRYING HOOD atherine M. Dugan, Detroit, Mich. Application April 15, 1950, Serial No. 156,220

4 Claims.

1 My improvement pertains to an inflatable hood or envelope which may be secured about the head of a person below the hairline'on said head, and which is adapted to receive a heated current of air, to discharge said air upon the hair in a manner calculated to distribute said air evenly over the hair, and t release the air and the moisture carried by it from said hood. The purpose of my improvement is to provide a device which will be adapted to utilize heated air supplied through a flexible hose from a motor-driven vacuum cleaner. More specifically, my object is to provide a collapsible device made of pliable sheet material, such as textiles and plastics, and one of a simple design and yet fully eflicient and practical.

I shall now describe my improvement with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevational view of my hair'- drying hood in its operative position upon the head of a person;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of my device;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the hood with a part broken oii to disclose the location of operative elements contained therein;

Fig. 4 is an illustration of the manner in which my hood may be connected to a vacuum cleaner.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The hood is made of a pliable sheet material and is adapted to be collapsed and folded so that it may be conveniently laid away when not needed. Generally, when expanded by air, as when it is in use, the hood has a substantially semi-spherical shape, including what is its upper portion I and a base portion l I, the latter being open, as shown in Fig. 2. The upper portion of the hood is made of non-porous material, such as a plastic, and is provided at the top with a circular opening where the material of the hood is sewn to an annular elastic band l2. Fitting into the band and connected thereto in an airtight manner is a short tube l3 adapted to serve as a connecting link with a hose 2| by means of which heated air may be conveyed into the hood from a vacuum cleaner or from any other suitable source. Secured to the same annular band 12 and extending inwardly into the hood is a diffuser l4. This is a pliable, broad-bottomed sack having the shape of a truncated cone, which, at its top, skirts said band I2 and is affixed thereto, preferably by being sewn to it.

-The upper portion of th diffuser, adjoining said band I2, is made of a porous textile material,

2 while the bottom portion 16, which is flattened in a plane at right angle to the axis of its cone formation, is either made of a separate piece of non-porous material, as shown in Fig. 3, or may be non-porous by being rubberized or otherwise treated to make it air-tight. If made of a separate piece of material, it may be sewn to the upper portion along its edges, as shown in the drawings, or it may be secured to said upper portion by suitable adhesive means. The base portion ll of the hood is preferably made of a loosely-woven textile material capable of readily transmitting air. Sewn to the upper portion III of the hood, as shown at I8, it is provided with an elastic band 19 along the hem around the opening of the base, the band serving t secure an air-tight fit around the head of a person, as shown in Fig. 1. A pair of ear-flaps 20 are sewn to the band l2, the flaps serving to cover the ears of a person using the hood, as a means of mufliing the sound of air blown into said hood.

The manner of the operation of the hood is quite obvious. Assuming that the hood has been seated upon the head of a person intending to use it and has been secured by means of band l2 about the head of said person, as shown in the drawings, heated air will be supplied to the hood from an outside source, such as a vacuum cleaner. The air will be first delivered from a hose 2| through tube l3 into the diffuser [4. As the bottom of the difiuser will not transmit air, the air will pass laterally therefrom through the porous wall of said diffuser, inflating the wall of the hood. As the upper portion of the hood is non-porous, the air blown out of the diffuser and over the hair of a person will pass out through the textile porous material forming the base portion I I of said hood.

It will be understood that some changes may be made in the structure of my hood without departing from the inventive principle disclosed herein. For instance, it may not be necessary to make the lower portion of the hood of a textile material. Said lower portion may also be made of a plastic material but provided with a plurality of perforations for release of air. The same pertains to the diffuser, which may be all made out of a plastic material but provided with perforations in its cone-shaped Wall, while the bottom of said difiuser may be devoid of such perforations. Changes of this kind would be but an equivalent of the features described above.

What I, therefore, wish to claim is as follows:

1. A collapsible hood of the kind described, said hood including an upper portion made of a pl air-tight material and a lower portion open at the bottom and adapted to fit about the head of a person, the lower portion being made of an air-transmitting material, a substantially vertical tube within the top of the upper portion of the hood for connection to a hos leading to a source of heated air, and a diffuser within said upper portion of the hood, said difiuser comprising a broad-bottomed sack affixed over the lower end of the tube, the diffuser being made of airtransmitting fabric but including a bottom made of an air-tight material.

2. A hood of the kind described, said hood comprising a semi-spherical upper portion of a pliable air-tight material, said upper portion being provided with an opening at the top, a tube seated within said opening, one end of the tube being disposed within said upper portion or" the hood, the other one being disposed outwardly thereof, and a diffusing sack enclosing the lower end of the tube, the sack having the shape of a truncated cone and being made of air-transmitting material but including a base made of air-tight material.

3. A device of the kind described, comprising a collapsible semi-spherical member made of an air-tight fabric, said member being provided at the top with a tube leading into said member and adapted to be connected to a source of air supply, a diffuser enclosing th end of the tube within said semi-spherical member, the diffuser being made of a porous air-transmitting material 4 but having an air-tight bottom, and a lower airtransmitting portion of the hood, said portion being open at the bottom and provided with an elastic band to fit about the head of a person.

4. A collapsible substantially spherical hood of the kind described, including an upper portion of air-tight material, a lower portion of air-transmitting material, said lower portion being open at the bottom and provided with an elastic band for an air-tight fit about the head of a person, a tube leading from a source of heated air into the upper portion of the hood, and a diffuser having the form of a truncated cone and being affixed" at its top over the end of the tube within said upper portion of th hood, the base of the diffuser being made of an air-tight material while the wall of the difiuser about the base is made of air-transmitting material.

CATHERINE M. DUGAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,570,045 Coune Jan. 19, 1926 1,907,215 Pfahl May 2, 1933 2,474,165 Roberts June 21, 1949 2,481,407 F'luegel Sept. 6, 1949 

